Global tech outage delays some flights at Akron-Canton AIrport

Major airlines, media companies, banks and telecoms firms around the world reported systems outages Friday that were disrupting their operations.

In the U.S., hundreds of flights were canceled Friday morning . American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines were among those who grounded flights less than an hour after Microsoft said it resolved a cloud-services-related outage that impacted several low-cost carriers.

The outage delayed some arrivals and departures at Akron-Canton Airport in Green, but operations within the airport itself were normal, spokesman Christian McCauley said.

Although the airport's online flight information was showing no cancellations on Friday morning, and some delays, McCauley said that information may not be accurate because the information technology outage may have interrupted airline communications.

He advised travelers to contact airlines directly to verify anticipated arrival and departure times. Carriers serving Akron-Canton Airport are American Airlines , United Airlines , Breeze Airways and Allegiant Air.

"A third-party software outage impacted technology systems worldwide, including at American," the carrier announced on its website Friday. "Our flights have resumed and we’re working diligently to minimize disruptions. We’ve issued a travel waiver so you can change your trip online or in the American app."

The Breeze website said "We're experiencing impacts from an outage" on Friday morning.

United's website said the outage impacted its computer systems.

"We are resuming some flights but expect schedule disruptions to continue throughout Friday," the website announcement said Friday. "We have issued a waiver to make it easier for customers to change their travel plans via united.com or the United app."

The Allegiant website was unavailable shortly before 10 a.m. Friday.

The outage affected some technology used by the Cleveland Clinic health care system, a spokeswoman said.

"Patient care is not affected, and we are continuing to provide care at all locations," Angela Smith wrote in a prepared statement. The system's holdings include Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital in Canton.

Channel 19 reported Friday morning that flights from several airlines had been delayed at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and that some airlines were offering vouchers and waivers to travelers.

Frontier, American Airlines and United Airlines all posted on X early Friday saying they had each been impacted by the outage.

What is CrowdStrike?: What to know about cybersecurity company tied to global tech outage

Public transit systems in the U.S. reported impacts. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority in Washington D.C. said its "website and some of our internal systems are currently down," but that trains and buses were running as scheduled. In New York City, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority also said it's buses and trains were unaffected but that "some MTA customer information systems are temporarily offline due to a worldwide technical outage."

Travel disruptions: 1,000+ US flights canceled: United, American Airlines resume service after global outage

The outages appeared to be linked to an update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, which is used by over half of Fortune 500 companies, the U.S. firm said in a promotional video this year.

In a post on X, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the outage was not a "security incident or cyberattack."

He said it was connected to a "defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts." He said the issue has been "identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed."

Microsoft said in a statement on X that "the underlying cause has been fixed," however, residual impacts continue to affect "some Microsoft 365 apps and services. We're conducting additional mitigations to provide relief."

Developments:

∎ The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement on X that it's "closely monitoring a technical issue impacting IT systems at U.S. airlines" and that several airlines "have requested FAA assistance with ground stops until the issue is resolved."

∎ Dubai International Airport said on X that it is operating normally following "a global system outage that affected the check-in process for some airlines." It added that the affected airlines "promptly switched to an alternate system, allowing normal check-in operations to resume swiftly."

∎ German University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, one of the largest medical facilities in Europe said in a statement on its website that it's halting all elective procedures on Friday and closing its outpatient clinics. Emergency care remains guaranteed, the statement, which cited the Crowdstrike-related outage, said.

Over 500 US flights canceled

Air passengers around the world faced delays, cancellations and problems checking in as airports and airlines were caught up in a massive IT outage that also affected industries ranging from banks to media companies.

Several U.S. carriers, including American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, issued ground stops for all their flights early on Friday due to communication problems, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

There were over 500 flights canceled and more than 1,100 delays as of 6 a.m. ET, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware .

Read more about the outage's travel impacts

Outages ripple far and wide

From the United Kingdom to Singapore, the effects of tech outages were far-reaching on Friday.

British broadcaster Sky News went off-air and train companies in the U.K. reported long delays. Departure boards at several U.K. airports appeared to freeze, according to passengers who posted reports on social media.

London's Stock Exchange reported experiencing disruptions. Some hospitals also reported difficulties processing appointments and several chain retail stores said they couldn't take payments. The soccer club Manchester United said on X that it had to postpone a scheduled release of tickets.

In Australia, media, banks and telecoms companies suffered outages.

There was no information to suggest the outage was a cyber security incident, the office of Australia's National Cyber Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness said in a post on X.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said some of its systems were offline due to a worldwide technical outage. It said MTA train and bus services were unaffected.

Spanish authorities reported a "computer incident" at all its airports.

Berlin's main airport said check-ins were delayed because of a "technical fault."

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, warned passengers of potential disruptions which it said would affect "all airlines operating across the Network." It did not specify the nature of the disruptions.

There were reports a shipping terminal in Gdansk on Poland's Baltic coast was not operating normally.

NetBlocks, a digital-connectivity watchdog, said that the outage reported by global airlines, corporates and infrastructure services firms and others was having "minimal" impact on global Internet connectivity.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Global tech outage delays some flights at Akron-Canton AIrport